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THE INVESTOR
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BIOTECHNOLOGY
The Cell and GeneTherapy Catapult’s
Chief Executive KeithThompson says:
‘There has been a transition from public to
private funding for cell therapy.When we
started, financing in the UKwas dominated
by government finance, especially for basic
research. Hardly any corporates were
investing because cell therapy was regarded
as too complex; investors were reluctant to
invest without a clear path to approval.
‘That has changed dramatically over the
past five years.Where there has been a
clear clinical benefit, with proven results,
investors have piled in.’
Overall, between 2015 and 2016 the
value of the UK’s quoted healthcare sector
grew by £40 billion to nearly £400 billion,
according to figures from the London
Stock Exchange
1
.A total of £1.96 billion
was raised in British life science IPOs and
additional offerings, bringing the total
since 2014 to £6 billion
1
.
Money is coming from a variety of
private-sector sources: venture capital,
biotechnology and broader investment
funds traded onAIM, such asTouchstone
Innovations, as well as the pharmaceutical
companies themselves.Also featuring are
public-private partnerships such as Syncona
and Cancer ResearchTechnology,which
have invested £13.2 million into a new
UCL‘spin-out’ calledAchillesTherapeutics.
Still, the sector as a whole must keep
a wary eye on the impact of Brexit on
the people, innovation, regulation
and finance that underpin its
success. Lowdell argues, for
example, that it is important
that the UK keeps as much as
possible of the budget it has
allocated to Horizon 2020, the EU
biotech research and innovation
programme.
Meanwhile, the trade body BioIndustry
Association accepts that, post-Brexit, the
EuropeanMedicinesAgency is likely to be
taken away from the UK after 2020. But it
has been reassured by the prime minister’s
insistence that the UKwill stay in the
vanguard of science and innovation, and
seek continued collaboration with its
European partners.
is that the cells injected no longer have to
be a close tissue match, usually from a
relative of the patient.
The Medical Research Council and
Innovate UK, the UK government
innovation agency set up to bridge the
funding gap between‘discovery science’
and commercial development, are
funding the clinical trial. During the
trial, 100 billion cells will be created in
a £2.1 million manufacturing laboratory
run by Mark Lowdell, Professor of Cell &
TissueTherapy at UCL and Director of
the Centre for Cell, Gene & Tissue
Therapy at the Royal Free Hospital in
London.The facility will enable scientists
to create or modify cells and tissues from
stem cells that can be used to treat a
range of conditions, including
haemophilia and macular degeneration.
In the UK this success in cutting-edge
science has not always translated into
commercial applications.Why not?‘It’s
a very complex problem,’ explains
Lowdell.‘There’s a disconnect between
the scientists who are doing the complex
research and how that work is translated.
Usually, if research [fails to reach the
market] it is because it has not been
translated into clinical activity.’
And, according to Lowdell, big pharma
companies don’t always understand how
to navigate the various phases of clinical
trials, particularly the need to plan the
late (phase three) trials when the drug’s
safety and efficacy are tested.He believes
there is little point doing the opening
(phase one) trials unless they can be
scaled up for the late stage: it is not
enough to make a drug that works if it
does not benefit enough patients to make
it viable after taking into account all the
marketing and manufacturing costs.
Another of Innovate UK’s initiatives is
the Cell and GeneTherapy Catapult, one
of 11 late-stage research and development
hubs. Set up in 2012 to accelerate
investment in technologies such as genetic
editing, its particular achievement is the
building of a £55 million manufacturing
plant in Stevenage,which is due to open
later this year.
A £55m facility
will open in
Stevenage later
this year
Getty Images. Source: 1 Future of Healthcare Investor Forum, hosted by the London Stock Exchange, January 2016
Whenwe started,
financing in the UK
was dominated by
government finance.
That has changed
dramatically